


The B&B Floor

by Surreal



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Medical, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Nurse Stiles, Patient Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-27 22:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Surreal/pseuds/Surreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Mr. Hale,” Stiles said softly, his hand drifting up to smooth fingers lightly over the tape that secured the gauze near his patient’s temple. “Welcome to the fourth floor, affectionately known as ‘The B&B’ floor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The B&B Floor

**Author's Note:**

> Self-beta as always. All mistakes are mine.

***

Once the orderlies cleared the room after completing the latest transfer from OR recovery and the doctor had left, satisfied that his patient was comfortable, Stiles was left alone with his newest charge.

Going through his practiced mental checklist – IV lines running neatly in place and out of the way, support pillow under the fiberglass cast on the man’s broken left leg, blankets arranged for maximum coverage without getting in the way of the equipment – Stiles took a brief moment to study the new guy’s face. Not much older than Stiles himself, probably just shy of thirty. Could use a shave, but that wasn’t a result of his so-far short stay in the hospital; more like a lifestyle choice that Stiles couldn’t really argue against. It did _things_ for the already stunningly attractive face, things that Stiles buried deep in his mind, far out of the way of his professional persona.

“Mr. Hale,” Stiles said softly, his hand drifting up to smooth fingers lightly over the tape that secured the gauze near his patient’s temple. “Welcome to the fourth floor, affectionately known as ‘The B&B’ floor. Due to your extended stay, I’ll be your nurse for the foreseeable future. Sit back and relax, keep your seat back reclined…” Chuckling to himself as he rambled to the unconscious man, Stiles finished his checks and took a moment to go over the patient chart one more time.

Once he was satisfied, Stiles tucked the call button next to Mr. Hale’s hand and dimmed the lights as he left. Next round was in an hour and maybe, if he was lucky, he would get to meet his patient for real.

***

Twenty-seven minutes after leaving Mr. Hale’s room, Stiles saw the call light flashing at the monitoring desk for his area. He shared a grin with Scott, whose own rounds that day had been hectic and was just now getting a moment to breathe at the desk. “Page Doc Deaton for me? Hale’s room – the boy one, not the girl one.” With that, Stiles took off in a brisk walk toward room 419.

When he opened the door with an easy, ready smile, the words froze in his mouth as he saw Mr. Hale awake and struggling to remove his IV lines. “Whoa – hey, no no no - ,” Stiles leaped forward and took a firm but gentle hold of his patient’s wrists. “Those gotta stay where they are, Mr. Hale,” he said in a voice that took no arguments.

“Where – Laura, where is she – “ 

“Just a minute, let’s slow down,” Stiles said calmly as he eased Mr. Hale back onto the raised bed with a hand on either shoulder. “Take a breath, I need you to relax. You’re on some pretty heavy meds and everything is probably really confusing right now. My name is Stiles, by the way.”

Mr. Hale blinked up at him slowly, turning his head to look around the room even as he actually obeyed Stiles’ directions. The nurse was impressed despite himself. “Stiles?” he repeated, eyebrows furrowing. 

Grinning, Stiles explained as he did to most of his patients. “Trying to get heavily medicated people to say ‘Nurse Stilinski’ is close to sadism. Some people have panicked when they thought they’d developed a lisp.”

That earned Stiles a brief breath of a laugh from Mr. Hale. “Laura?”

Stiles checked the IV hand, securing the disturbed tape and ensuring the needle was still in place. “Laura Hale is just down the hall in a room of her own. I’ll let the doc answer your questions, since I’m technically not supposed to discuss patient stuff even if you’re related.”

Before he could go on, the door opened to admit Dr. Deaton, looking as calm as always. “Well, hello again, Derek,” he said in that easy way of his, like he was greeting an old friend at Starbucks. “I trust my nurse here is taking good care of you?”

Mr. Hale - _Derek_ to the doctor, apparently - gave a soft sigh and a tiny smile. “Alan,” he said with a familiarity that Stiles was only just beginning to comprehend. “Where’s Laura? Is she okay?”

“Your sister is stable and resting in another room on this floor,” Alan told him as he began looking over Derek with professional ease. “A couple of broken ribs, broken wrist and a pretty severe concussion. That last part is why she’s not already over here getting in my way – she hasn’t fully regained consciousness since the two of you were brought in. I understand she was driving?”

Derek drew a shaky breath and gave a short nod. “I think we were both knocked out, the truck just came out of nowhere and hit Laura’s side.”

Deaton hummed thoughtfully, his hands moving quickly as he checked pupil reaction, bandages and finally moved toward the foot of the bed to take a look at Derek’s leg. “You’re both lucky to get out of that with just a few broken bones and a matching pair of concussions. The two of you always were competitive. You just had to win this one, didn’t you?”

Taking a look at the bulky cast encasing the lower half of his leg, Derek grimaced. “Would have been glad to forfeit this one to her.”

Stiles stood to the side and watched the doctor and patient banter comfortably, smiling to himself. 

Derek flinched hard when Deaton unceremoniously stuck a dull pin against Derek’s toe, checking sensation. “Fuck.”

“Good,” Deaton informed him cheerfully. “Circulation and feeling are normal in your foot. Bad news is you’ve got two fractures in your fibula, a break in your ankle and we had to place several screws into the ankle. You’ll be in bed for a few days at least, absolutely no walking on this leg. We’ll monitor the swelling and once that goes down, we’ll start getting you up and moving. Wheelchair first, crutches once your head is clear and you’re more stable.”

With a defeated sigh, Derek relaxed again as Deaton finished checking Derek’s leg and resettled the support pillow. “I need – Laura, I need to see…”

Deaton shook his head, though his face was sympathetic. “I’m sorry, you’re in no condition to sit up on your own, let alone get out of bed.”

Hating the pained and miserable look on Derek’s face, Stiles stepped up. “Hey, I’ve got an idea, if it’s okay…”

Derek looked at him with surprise, having forgotten about the nurse in the room. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. 

“What if I go down the hall and like, take her picture? With your phone? So you can see for yourself that she’s okay?”

Deaton looked impressed, glancing back at Derek. “I’m fine with that, if you’ll give your permission? Your phone is among your personal belongings here.”

Derek smiled slowly and nodded. “Would you? I’d really appreciate it…”

Stiles grinned and went to retrieve Derek’s phone from the locked cabinet. “Back in a minute,” he told them, ducking out the door.

When he returned a few minutes later, Derek eagerly took his phone back from Stiles and scanned the camera roll, giving a snort when he found the newest picture of Laura. It was a terribly unflattering picture and she would kick his ass when she found out, but he could tell she was alive and resting comfortably as possible given her current condition. “Thank you,” he said as he handed it back to Stiles.

“No problem,” Stiles gave him a nod and replaced the phone in the cabinet and locked it again. He brought the keys back to Derek and set them on the table next to the bed. 

The doctor finished making his notes on the chart and replaced it on the hook on the wall next to the bed. “Think you can sleep now, Derek?”

“Yeah,” Derek said and Stiles could tell he wasn’t just saying that to placate the doctor. Derek looked _exhausted_ from the last twenty minutes or so of excitement upon waking and his eyes were already closing on their own.

Deaton chuckled and left with a promise to be nearby if Derek needed anything. Once he was gone, Stiles made sure there was fresh water in the pitcher within reach and ran through the rest of his checks by rote. Just as he was about the turn and head out again, he felt a warm hand grasp his wrist. He looked up to see Derek looking at him, soft with sleep. “Thank you, Stiles,” he mumbled. “The picture was a great idea.”

Stiles smiled warmly. “Anytime, Mr. Hale.”

Derek grunted. “Derek,” he said with a sigh. “If I have to call you Stiles, you can at least use my first name, too.”

“Can do, Derek,” Stiles agreed to the request unreservedly. “Need anything else?”

“I’m good for now, thanks,” Derek assured him quietly as he finally gave in and fell asleep.

***

When his shift started the next morning, Stiles took a moment to fist-bump with Scott, who had started an hour earlier. “So far?”

“So good,” Scott replied, stretching his arms over his head. “Couple of discharges and one newbie in Boyd’s section. Quiet night, too, I heard.”

“Love it,” Stiles said with a long head-bob. “Gonna make my rounds. You got the desk?”

Scott nodded. “You’re clear for the next forty minutes, I just finished by second round.”

“Ping me if I get any lights,” Stiles told him as he moved down the hall toward his section. He covered a total of twenty rooms, like most of the other nurses on this floor, but only twelve were currently occupied. 

As he visited each of his patients and took his time ensuring their well-being, he couldn’t help a little twinge of anticipation as he approached Derek’s room. Entering quietly, he smiled when he saw Derek was already awake. “Good morning,” Stiles said brightly as he strode across the room. “You get breakfast yet?”

Derek grimaced. “Is that what that was?”

Stiles laughed and started going through his routine. “Trust me, the food here is better now than it was when I was a kid.” Realized he had let something so personal slip without thought, Stiles frowned briefly. 

“Accident prone, were you?” Derek prompted, but he seemed to pick up on Stiles’ discomfort and kept his tone light. 

Deciding to take the out Derek was giving him, Stiles just smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed. “How’s the pain?”

“Manageable,” Derek answered honestly. Stiles watched him closely, taking in the relaxed body language and seeing no tension that would indicate that Derek was hiding discomfort. “Have you seen my sister yet this morning?”

Stiles shook his head and finished changing out the catheter collection bag. “Not yet, but my buddy tells me it was a quiet night and morning, so I’m sure she’s doing good. I can run over and poke my head in, if you want?”

Derek shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat. “Could you…um…” He looked over at the locked cabinet and wouldn’t meet Stiles’ eyes.

“Sure,” Stiles gave him a knowing smile and retrieved the phone again. “Back in a few.”

Once again, he returned as promised with a truly unfortunate picture of Laura Hale now stored safely in Derek’s phone. Derek chuckled and made a mental note to never allow his sister to find out about this rather ingenious method of keeping tabs on her. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Stiles gave him a nod and left him to rest with a promise to check back soon.

***

After three days of routine checks, casual conversation and terrible pictures of the slowly improving Laura, Stiles arrived on shift to find Derek being transferred to a wheelchair by a pair of orderlies under the watchful eye of Dr. Deaton. Stiles grinned and waited by the door. Once Derek was settled, Stiles spoke. “Road trip?”

Derek looked up and smiled tightly, pale but determined. His broken leg was supported straight out in front of him, tightly locked in place. “Just a short one.”

“Laura?”

Derek nodded. “She woke up this morning and was lucid enough to answer questions.”

“That’s great news,” Stiles bounced as he stepped forward. “Mind if I join you?”

“Oh, she’ll love you,” Derek said with an unreadable expression on his face. 

Deaton dismissed the orderlies with a quiet word and moved to take over the chair’s handles. The three of them made their way slowly down the hall and stopped in front of 426. Stiles opened the door upon Deaton’s nod and was pleased to see Laura was indeed awake. Stepping aside to make room for Derek’s ride, he felt the rare and satisfying privilege of witnessing a family reunited. 

“Derek,” Laura smiled, eyes tired but relieved. “Get over here, you lazy ass. Alan told me you’ve been lounging around in bed for three days.”

Derek rolled his eyes and once Deaton had him next to the bed with his wheels locked, he finally reached out and took his sister’s hand. Despite her words, she gripped his hand hard, her fingers shaking slightly. “You’re the one who’s been sleeping it off,” he shot back, though not without a break in his voice. 

Stiles grinned and stepped back out into the hall with Deaton, out of the way but within earshot in case they were needed. They shared a familiar look that spoke to how much the two men loved their work.

***

The following few days were filled with routine; visits between the rooms of the siblings, mocking of hospital food and the joy of removing various pieces of medical paraphernalia as Derek recovered.

Whenever he had the opportunity, Stiles walked with Derek up and down the halls as Derek got used to his crutches. Stiles was always a steady presence at his side, making sure he took breaks in conveniently placed chairs and kept him focused with easy chatter. 

So when the day came for Derek to be discharged after a nine-day stay, Stiles had mixed feelings. He was always pleased to see his patients leave the hospital, knowing he had been a part of making them well again. But this time, he had built an odd sort of friendship with this man and he felt a hollow twinge of sadness deep in his chest knowing he wouldn’t start his shifts with Derek’s room.

Which is why Stiles was pleasantly surprised the day after Derek’s release when he spotted Derek hopping his way down the hall gracefully on his crutches. “Hey,” he called out, mindful of sleeping patients in rooms nearby. “You here to visit Laura?”

Derek gave him a head-jerk that basically conveyed ‘hey’ in return. “Yeah. We’re hoping her scans come back clear this afternoon and she can come home tomorrow.”

Stiles nodded, automatically slowing his pace to Derek’s speed. “Great news, man.”

Before they reached Laura’s door, however, Derek stopped suddenly and moved to the side of the hall, glancing around. “And…actually, I have another…I mean – “ Derek couldn’t quite meet Stiles’ eyes and the tips of his ears were red. Stiles thought he looked _adorable_ even as he struggled for words. Derek huffed and finally met his gaze. “Would you want to maybe go get coffee with me?”

Blinking rapidly, Stiles processed the question and slowly grinned, dazed and delighted. “How about I meet your coffee and raise you a lunch date?”

Derek sagged in relief. “Real food?” he asked hopefully.

Stiles laughed. “If you think I’m letting you buy me lunch in the cafeteria, then I’m telling Laura about the pictures of her on your phone.”

The look of horror on Derek’s face only made Stiles laugh harder.

***

End


End file.
